A new “point/counter point” session format was added to the mix of presentation types this year at EDUCAUSE. It turned out to be my favorite format of all sessions this year. Mostly, this is due to the presenters involved. My favorite session of EDUCAUSE 2008 was titled “The Community Source Model: Promise or Peril for Higher Ed?”. In the one-hour session, Dr. Brad Wheeler and Adrian Sannier discuss the issues facing higher education’s software sourcing options – community sourcing model vs. proprietary sourcing model.

Several bodies of knowledge include information about how to select vendors for providing services:

• PMBOK v3 chapter 12, "Project Procurement Management"
• COBIT AI3.1 "Technological Infrastructure Acquisition Plan," AI5.1 "Procurement Control," and DS2 "Manage Third-party Services"
• ITIL v3 Supplier Management

However, the most thorough body of knowledge we've found so far is Carnegie Mellon's "IT Services Qualification Center." They have created "eSCM-CL," a capability model for client organizations interested in "eSourcing."